RECENT FAVES FROM THE RECORD LIBRARY - February 2002

BOB HUND Stendaldern Kan Borja (Silence)
While the 90's Swedish indie rock contingent opted to go for
international
fame with English language-oriented music, Bob Hund stayed steadfastly
true
to their Stockholm roots, putting out all of its music in its native
tongue.
Though, as of recent they have opted for some UK and US dates under the
decidedly Anglo-friendly monicker Bergman Rock, even singing in
English. Kind
of too bad, considering the English tranlsation of Bob Hund is "Bob the
Dog",
infinitely a better name. But now, they have done yet another about-face,
and
have released their latest record once again in Swedish.
Well, needless to say, we have no idea what Bob Hund is singing about,
but
the music is some truly joyful indie rock that shouldn't stop
English-speaking labels from getting them a damned deal
already. Definitely
taking cues from Pavement, the Velvets, Kraftwerk, and Pere Ubu (whom were
covered some years ago with a Swedish version of "Final Solution" on an
earlier Bob Hund EP), there's some great buzzing melodies, layers of
guitar
and synths that surge at all the right moments. And their logo, a dog
smoking
a pipe, probably is the best band logo since that Blue Oyster Cult
thingie, I
hope they use it on their drumhead.

MERI VON KLEINSMID Chi-Tape (American Archive Recordings)KLAUS KINSKI Listen To Me, and Obey, Dogs: The Spoken Word Klaus
Kinski
Compendium (No Label)
Meri is a member of a loose Seattle experimental music collective known
as SoniCabal, and here presents a stunning and strange audio document of
the Windy City. Comprised of cheap cassette recordings from 1991, Chi-Tape
is an audio tour of some rich and diverse sounds: warbling piano gospel,
fiery distorted preaching, radio ads, PSAs and more. Religious ravings
spliced back to back with KC & the Sunshine Band off the
radio into polka into funeral home ads makes for some schizoid listening,
indeed. If you arrive into a brain-clouded state, perfect time to then
throw on this spoken-word collection of the late German actor Klaus
Kinski, culled from various speeches (including his famous "I Am
Jesus" tour shown in the "My Best Fiend" documentary about Kinski's
volatile relationship with filmmaker Werner Herzog). It's all in German,
but Klaus' trebly, weedy, and barking vocal demeanor is sound art within
itself up there with the best Erik Belgum or Henri Chopin stuff. His
"Schwarze Puppen" is filled with the tension of him about to break out
barking at someone in his hapless radius. I need a drink now.

COMETS ON FIRE s/t (Comets on Fire)
This South Bay Area outfit rocks like holy demons, and features one
member of the great Lowdown. Massive, pounding lo-fi spazz rock action
with heavy riffage ala MC5, distorted vocals ala the Jon Spencer In the
Red 45s, and someone with an echoplex pedal that will not let up on freaky
oscillation sounds. It's pretty non-stop and unrelenting, and just when
you are winding down at the end of side B, they slip in an unlisted total
destructo-version of "Back In the USSR." Totally great!

VARIOUS U-Sound Volume One (Parallelism)
The weekly live shindigs at the Pink Pony in 1999 were a real brightspot
on the NYC music scene, so I have a very lame excuse for missing what
was a great snapshot in downtown NYC sound. But what with the dog's
MENSA club meetings and my Origami class at the New School, I just
wasn't able to get down there, my loss bigtime. The shows, organized by
Jackie O Motherfucker's Tom Greenwood, offered a haven for his pals from
Tower Recordings, Prick Decay, Hall of Fame and other NYC and non-NYC
free-thinkers, and the result is a stunning 2CD document that's going to
turn people on for years to what seems to be the logical sequel to the
ESP-related activity in 1960s downtown NYC. Even Michael Hurley stops by
for a ghostly guitar recital surrounded by his new friends, and genius
blower Daniel Carter's lead amongst the group here is among the most
amazing performances I've heard from him. There's some electronic abuse
from Glands of Eternal Secretion, lonely psychedelia from Double Leopards,
cosmic folk from Joshua Burkett, and much more. A really superb series of
shows that I again club myself repeatedly for missing....duh.